Volunteers add final touches to family home in Waimānalo

Around this time next month, the Keliinui ‘ohana will be getting the keys to their new home.

A small group of Honolulu Habitat for Humanity volunteers — including two of the homeowners — gathered on-site at the property in Waimānalo Homestead on Saturday, July 19. Projects that day included work on interior closet shelving and door framing, while outside yard work and painting were taking place.

According to officials with the nonprofit, the demolition happened in March and the build started in April. Supporting sponsors include Howard Hughes and Sherpa 6, among others.

The goal is to complete this home build by the end of August and later begin construction on a new home in the same neighborhood, officials said, noting builds typically take six to eight months.

“It’s been a great experience with some emotional moments,” said future homeowner Abraleen Keliinui. “We come out every Saturday and it’s been incredible to see where we were and where we’re at now.”

Keliinui told Aloha State Daily that the new three-bedroom, two-bathroom home will nearly double the original house’s square footage, as well as give it a longer driveway further back from the street and a high-ceiling garage. Her parents purchased the home on this lot from the Department of Hawaiian Homelands back in 1965, Honolulu Habitat noted.  

“Over 50 years here, there was so much wear and tear, it was time,” Keliinui said.  

Volunteers represented different communities around the island, most with roots in Waimānalo. One volunteer, Alan, delivered the newspaper on bicycle to the family home at a young age.

The project’s independent contractor, Mike, is also based in Waimānalo and has supervised “either six or seven” home builds with Honolulu Habitat in recent years, he said. He has more than 24 years of experience in construction and has been specializing in affordable housing on Oʻahu since 2015.

“Things have been going smoothly,” he said of the current build. “We’ve had good volunteer groups and are making good time.”

He says the reason he does this is to help local families stay in Hawai’i.

“My favorite part of the build…” he paused and said with a smile, “I like the end because you can see what was done. You see the quality. It’s good to turn over a quality project. Just because it’s ‘affordable’ doesn’t mean it can’t be nice.

“Building alongside the homeowners, too, it gives them confidence and they have a great appreciation for it.”

While some of Mike’s main goals are keeping the field team safe and on task, he noted that making it an “enjoyable experience for the volunteers” is also important. “If you want to volunteer but don’t have the experience, still sign up and I, or the other volunteers, can teach you. I prefer it that way.”

The next heavy lift will be in a couple weeks when the floor gets installed, he added. Kitchen cabinetry and appliances have already started coming in.

Honolulu Habitat for Humanity Board Member Haley Baird joined the crew Saturday for her first volunteer day. She said her favorite part was “the teamwork" and getting "to work together toward something meaningful.”

Baird is a real estate associate at Commercial Investment Strategies. “I’ve been in real estate for a long time and wanted to give back,” she said about deciding to join Honolulu Habitat earlier this year.

As a board member, her role is to help promote the nonprofit’s mission of affordable housing on Oʻahu by elevating awareness through social media, newsletters and other forms of communication.

Boosting engagement across volunteers, donors and community are priorities for the organization as it looks to scale, officials said.

Funds donated to Honolulu Habitat will contribute to more affordable housing projects on Oʻahu, apart from the area served by Habitat for Humanity Leeward Oʻahu. There are other Habitat for Humanity affiliates that serve on Hawaiʻi Island, Maui and Kauaʻi.

Each home build requires about 250 volunteers, officials said. Daybreak Church in Kailua provided lunch for the volunteers on Saturday.

For more information about Honolulu Habitat for Humanity, or to volunteer, click here.

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Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros can be reached at kelsey@alohastatedaily.com.